


Orange Rose Tea

by honebami



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Trans Saihara Shuuichi, nb ouma, postgame au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 05:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11306565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honebami/pseuds/honebami
Summary: [ ndrv3 spoilers ]Shuuichi and Kokichi honour the anniversary.





	Orange Rose Tea

**Author's Note:**

> thank you very much for reading !!

"Shuuichi..."

"Shuuichi... If you don't wake up, I’m gonna eat you... I'll stick my tongue up your nose..."

Shuuichi groaned and blinked the sleep from his eyes. "What...?"

Kokichi grinned down at Shuuichi's bleary face. "Good morning, my beloved!" they crooned. "Do you remember what day it is?"

"Uh... Wednesday...?"

Kokichi pouted and sat on him with a thump. Tears welled up in their eyes. "You’re so mean! I can’t believe you forgot Arthur's birthday!" Kokichi whined in an imitation of their dog.

Summer sun spilled in through the lips of wood blinds. "His birthday is in October,” said Shuuichi.

"Oh, guess you caught me!" Kokichi hopped off of him. "That was a lie. It's the anniversary."

Shuuichi scrabbled from the bed and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. Sure enough, it was August sixth; the day they had crawled from the rubble to face a nonfictional world.

"What, you needed to check that? I have never told a lie in my life, you know!"

Shuuichi sat up and reached a hand out to them. "Are you feeling okay?"

Kokichi stuck out their tongue. "Of course! It's the anniversary of our fantastic victory!" They took stuttered steps back. "Hurry and come outside!" They waved a hand without turning around and shut the door behind them with a loud thunk. 

Shuuichi sighed and moved to get dressed before stopping short. Standing out even more than the scars on his chest was writing in glittery purple. "This Shuuichi belongs to Kokichi Ouma…?” He groaned. Did Kokichi write this while he was asleep? How did he sleep through that? 

It wasn't just that Shuuichi was a heavier sleeper than Kokichi; since moving in together, Shuuichi had never seen them asleep. 

At night, as swirls of guilt curdled and sunk in his stomach, he would turn to see Kokichi staring at him, their lips pressed into a thin line. They clutched at his pajamas as if Shuuichi would disappear if they let go. If he tried to whisper to them, they'd only pop into a crackled smile and tug him closer.

At the morning cascade of a Bad Boy nightcore remix, Shuuichi would wake and smack Kokichi’s alarm clock off to find himself alone save for coffee steaming under a pony-print lid and a scribble on a sticky note. Shuuichi and Kokichi together, faces of friends, curled cakes and purple puppies, always peppered with hearts. He kept every one in his bedside drawer, a patchwork of checkered memories.

Shuuichi buttoned his shirt over Kokichi’s staked claim and made his way outside. He gasped; Upon the white weave of their garden table were cupcakes twirled up a silver tower, raspberry scones and blueberry muffins circled in their plates, and a mismatched tea set sitting proudly in front of its owner.

"Took you long enough!" Kokichi grinned and stood to pour Shuuichi's tea from the spell-sparkled teapot they'd received as a housewarming present from Himiko.

"D-Did you bake all of this?" asked Shuuichi as he circled the table. 

"Nope! I just bought it.”

"I saw the kitchen on my way over. I don't think you could make a mess that big unless you were up to something.”

Kokichi set the teapot down and huffed. "Boo. What's the point of asking if you already knew?" They poured the milk for Shuuichi’s tea before plunking six sugar cubes into their own and clinking a stir spoon against the porcelain. 

Shuuichi’s chuckle fell as he laid eyes on a drawing in crayon tucked behind the cake tower. Kokichi and Shuuichi were holding hands, as were Himiko and Tenko; Kaito pointed to the stars as Kaede graced her keys and Rantarou listened to her melodies; Ryouma pet a calico cat as Kirumi poured him tea; Angie painted a gentleman's moustache upon the quavering lines of Gonta's face; the paper had crumpled around Miu as she drooled over Kiibo. 

Shuuichi held a hand over his mouth. “Kokichi, this is…”

“It’s a group picture of everyone.”

Shuuichi refrained from commenting on the three who were missing. "It’s… It’s great.” He sat down next to Kokichi. “You must have gotten up early to make all this. You really work hard.” He took a sip of his own tea. The hot aroma of orange pekoe filled his throat. 

"So will you when you clean the kitchen for me later!" Kokichi jutted their pinky out and slurped their tea with an exaggerated noise.

"Sure, sure. But really, thank you." Shuuichi set his teacup down. "I know this isn't an easy day for you." 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s a tea party! Obviously everything’s fine!” Kokichi gulped the rest of their tea. Their plastic smile didn’t touch their eyes.

Shuuchi sighed. "I could lay out all the evidence that says otherwise, but I'm sure you don't want to hear it."

Kokichi slumped backwards. "Ugh. Fiiine. Remind me, why am I dating a detective of all things?"

"Isn't it because it takes a detective to figure you out?"

"No," said Kokichi. "It's- because I love you." They shoved an unbuttered scone into their mouth and stared straight ahead.

Shuuichi's breath caught. "I love you too," he cupped their stuffed cheeks and pressed a chaste kiss to their lips, "so much." He laced his fingers around their small warmth. Kokichi was stiff and still for a frozen moment before they buried their face into his chest and squeezed him hard.

.

The rosebud of morning sun bloomed into mid-day as the two ate their way through the display of delicacies and had more tea than anyone should drink in one sitting. Arthur lay at their feet and licked his paws with a wet sound. A soft breeze ruffled Shuuichi's hair and chilled the summer sweat on his neck. Kokichi's head weighed against his shoulder. He brushed a strand of hair from their eyes.

"Geez, you're..." Kokichi's voice trailed off into a squeaky yawn. "So fussy." Shuuichi brushed their bangs aside and pressed a kiss to their forehead.

Kokichi made a small noise and sunk further against Shuuichi's shoulder. "You were right, earlier." They ran a finger across the scar on their hand. "...I'm not okay."

Shuuichi laced his fingers through theirs. "We... Might never be okay. But I think they would want us to live on, the best we could."

Kokichi snorted. "They'd want you to live on. Not me." Their nails dug into Shuuichi's palm.

"If they saw how hard you've worked, during the game and after it... They'd come around."

Kokichi's voice was barely a mumble. "Well, I guess you did."

Shuuichi lay his head on Kokichi’s. "Y-Yeah."

Kokichi rubbed slow circles into the curled fur of Arthur's belly with their foot. "I..." They stilled. "I should have died. Not them. I don't deserve to live in a world where I'm..." 

Loved? Safe? Kokichi breathed in a cold shudder. A wet sheen ghosted over their cheek.

Shuuichi squeezed their hand. "...I still think about wanting to die every day." Kokichi pressed into him. "I'm sure that's not news to you, but... Even if neither of us feel we deserve to live in this world, we can make it our own." 

Our home, our family, tucked away from flashes of city snapping and shouting, stitching up the gashes that drooled spitten memories through our skin.Together, they'd reach laced hands through bramble memories of sacrifice and suspicion and sunbeams and summation.

Soft breaths spilled from Kokichi's mouth. Their belly puffed in and out in a metronome time. Their guarded eyes were but a closed kiss of lashes.

They're asleep, Shuuichi realized, and his skin burned with rose water. He blinked his eyes against the sting for the boy before him. He didn't dare whisper, not now, but he ran his thumb over the scar on Kokichi's finger, left when Kokichi claimed to have stolen his heart. Kokichi had been working their way under his skin all along, hadn't they? Always watching, always leading him in a dance, as they guided him forward and protected him in their steps.

But it wasn't only for Kokichi to guide and to protect. It took all Shuuichi's trembling heart had even now, but he would take Kokichi's hand and ask them to dance again and again, until they could believe, one day, that they were worthy of love.


End file.
